"Darker" Diablo fan petition rejected
The colours stay, says Blizzard.
Blizzard has stamped on the hopes of the 52,744 Diablo fans who have signed a petition asking it to change the art style of Diablo III.
Lead designer Jay Wilson unequivocally vetoed a change of course. "There's no going back now," he told MTV. "We're very happy with how the art style is.
"The art team's happy. The company's happy. We really like this art style, and we're not changing it."
No room for misinterpretation there. Blizzard unveiled Diablo III's colourful, hand-painted, stylised look at its Worldwide Invitational back in late June: check it, and our preview, out on the game page.
It is some way removed from the "macabre, dark and realistic style" the petitioners expected and wanted from this sequel. We think it's stunning, personally, but each to their own.
Wilson did conceded that it wasn't an easy decision. The game went through two versions with a darker, grittier look before Blizzard decided it just didn't work with the gameplay.
"It's actually the thing we struggled with the most," Wilson said. "When you have 30 creatures on screen - and four or five different types - target prioritization is a factor.
"You need to be able to tell those things apart fast, and you can't do that when your world is grey and your creatures are grey."
Plenty more interesting comments from Wilson on the reasoning behind the decision in the MTV interview, so be sure to read it.